Part Two – The Development Terry’s Pastels

In the first part of the interview we discussed Terry's background: how he got involved in painting with pastels which led to his development of his own unique brand. In this second part we'll look at how he developed the pastels, the challenges he faced and what lies ahead.

To see the beautiful collection of pastels for sale visit terryludwig.com .

LP: What were some of the earliest challenges you faced in developing your amazing pastels? Consistency?

TL: Yes. That was one. Try as I may, I make them as soft as I can, but those particles still come together and get hard. That's a challenge. The stuff that the old books recommended for the binders was the challenge, finding out more about those pigments. And, they never advertise it, but some of them were not good. When I was in art school in a watercolor class, they warned us about Emerald green – not to put it in your mouth when you were trying to make a point on your brush, Emerald green would get ya. I really like the colors Phytho green and blue but they're not real. I haven't figured out a way to use them in pastel.

LP: Yeah. I know you guys call your binder, the secret sauce?

TL: Well, there are some trade secrets. Yeah. I think that's why some of the manufacturers would rather not say what they're using.

The process of mixing the pigments with the binder.
(Courtesy of www.terryludwig.com)

Lydia Pottoff: How do you like test your pastels before you put them out?

Terry Ludwig: Well, it's not like spaghetti where you can throw it up against the wall and see if it sticks.

We just use them basically. That's it. I'm not at the shop very much now. I just had my 80th birthday. So, I'm making colors in my basement. I’ve got a mini workshop down there for all the colors that we use here and try to mix them by hand. I'm making one stick at a time where they're making maybe 140 in a batch here.

When I go out and paint and I get out there I think son of a gun, I don't have that color. How do you make that color? And then I go back to the basement and challenge myself. (Having mixed oils and having to do all those charts in school – I hated it.)

But that's the basics of it all. Try to picture it, maybe take some notes in the field. And, not just that particular color and value, but spread that value out because that changes a bit also when you're mixing colors. You often have a dominant color and add a secondary to it. When it gets thinned out the secondary is probably not as strong as the dominant, so you're learning a lot. And when you're doing that, you're teaching your eye to see value and color. That's, that's how I'm coming up with new colors.

Lydia Pottoff: Wow! You actually go out and paint and figure out which colors you have and don’t have. You are looking and seeing and trying to figure out if you don't have that color, how you're going to get it. I think it's really hard because there is a lot of like training of your eyes to see. You have to be in the field and working with changing light. You can't just work from photographs. They can be deceiving.

Terry Ludwig: And, when you're out there looking out there at the color that darn sun keeps changing and then some clouds cover the sun and it really changes those colors. So, you have to figure out not only how that color is in bright sunshine, but what happens when it's in shadow? It's a learning process.

Lydia Pottoff: Do you usually paint with an umbrella?

Terry Ludwig: Well, here in Colorado I learned a long time ago that when you go out painting the first thing you decide is okay, where's the shade?

And, since my legs, aren't so good I say, where can I sit down? So that’s what I do. And then I say, is there something out there I can paint?

Lydia Pottoff: Exactly. You look for a good spot first.

Terry Ludwig: Yeah. That's just reality.

Lydia Pottoff: There's always something to paint. you just have to look around.

Terry Ludwig: I did a workshop for the, Degas pastel society (in New Orleans) and it was right when Katrina was hitting and I couldn't get in touch with anyone down there. I sent out an email saying, ‘I'm not coming’.

And I got one the next day saying ‘don't come’. Then we had the workshop in Laurel, Mississippi. I’d never been there, but the night before the workshop, they had a heavy rainstorm. So, I'm trying to find something  to paint and a dry place to stand. And they had done some construction work there. So there's a lot of mud! I’m out there looking and I see a mud puddle, but the sun was shining and the reflections are so exciting. So, I did a demo painting mud. So yeah, if you really look there's, there's something out there to paint. I got razzed about that quite a bit.

Lydia Pottoff: That’s wonderful! What’s your newest color? Have you come up with a color recently that’s maybe the hot new color?

Terry Ludwig: I don't know if it's a hot new color, but we had Alain Picard here this past week and I was talking to him and asking him about colors that would be helpful to him that may not be out there. We got talking and he mentioned umber. And I said, well, is it like raw umber or burnt umber? And he said it’s probably more like burnt umber. And I think he said something leaning toward cadmium red (we don’t use cadmiums). We use a synthetic so it won’t kill you. I made up some for him. I don't know if it's going to take off or not or if it would be a hot color or not. And then sometimes I get people that call me and to tell me what color to make over the phone, which is kind of next to impossible – you know, what's going through their mind and what I'm getting is quite often different

Lydia Pottoff: Because you're trying to imagine the way they see color and everybody sees color differently. But if can look at it together, you can at least discuss whether it should be warmer or cooler.

On your website you say you've continued to see colors in the world that have not yet been captured in Terry Ludwig pastels. You've said that you often go out and try to paint something and if there's a color that you don't have it inspires you to go back (and from the years of painting in oils and understanding how to mix color), you then experiment and come up with a new color.

Terry Ludwig: Yes. Those charts, (even though we didn't want to do them) were very helpful. Mosley was teaching what they referred to as Reubin's pallet. 10 colors and white. You’d take a cad yellow right out of the tube and mix to get five values of it on the chart. Then you would take CAD yellow dominant and add some yellow ochre to it until you can see that there's a difference. And do the same thing in five values. And then the next one would be one of the other 10 and so forth.

I've done them three times – somehow they disappear.

One of my favorite sets - 30 piece Red Rocks
(Courtesy of www.terryludwig.com.)

Lydia Pottoff: The charts? Where did they go?

Terry Ludwig: I think someone borrowed them.

It’s not like a library where they sign them out. Right. But it doesn't help them a whole bunch because they haven't gone through the process. When you're in the field and you’ve got those color charts, you can flip through them and say, oh, I didn't think that. It helps a whole bunch until after a while you get it.

Lydia Pottoff: Do you take the color charts out with you still when you're painting in pastel?

Terry Ludwig: No. I think Geoff has them here. Do you use them Geoff?

Geoff Ludwig: Not any more, most of the colors have been made so now I don’t use them too much.

Lydia Pottoff: Geoff your background is in jewelry designer. Did you do any painting in school?

Geoff Ludwig: No I was making jewelry.

Terry Ludwig: He was making jewelry for 27 years. I'd say he's got to be close to a master.

Lydia Pottoff: Wow. Do you still make jewelry?

Geoff Ludwig (laughs): No - I'm busy here!

Lydia Pottoff: I bet! You have over 600 colors now?

Geoff Ludwig: 750.

Lydia Pottoff: 750! Are you going to add a range of burnt umbers now since you experimented with them for Alain Picard? Will that add a wide variety of colors?

Terry Ludwig: Well, that was just last week!

I’ve got to see what he thinks. I did four basic colors. Umbers and red and four values of each so that he could take them home, play with them and see what he thinks. If there's one or two colors in there that will help him that would be good. Or if there's none, that's okay too.
He's seen as a portrait as well as a landscape painter. The umbers were for a portrait, but they could be used in landscape too.

Lydia Pottoff: So if I can't find a color, I can call you and come down?

Terry Ludwig: You have to come over here and give me a scrubbing so I can see what the heck you're talking about.

We wrapped up our conversation discussing the future of Terry Ludwig Pastels: upcoming plans for a move to a new space and the most popular color ever – eggplant . 

Lydia Pottoff: You’re a second-generation business. Is there going be a third generation taking over?

Geoff Ludwig: I’ve got to have some kids, huh?

Lydia Pottoff: Boy, it's hard to imagine not having Terry Ludwig pastels around.

Geoff Ludwig: Okay. I'll certainly hang on as long as I can.

Lydia Pottoff: Another question is why isn't there an eggplant apron? You know, it's so interesting because that's what I give as gifts to students, eggplant pastels. People just can't believe how rich and dark it is. When you're blocking in your darks for me nine times out of 10, I start with my eggplant. There is nothing like it. You really captured something there with that color.

Terry Ludwig: There weren't many rich darks back then that the manufacturers were making. I needed another value. That's how eggplant came about.

Lydia Pottoff: Well I guess  that about wraps it up for me. Is there anything else you want to tell the world about Terry Ludwig pastels?

Geoff Ludwig: We are trying to find a new location. It would be nice for the Colorado pastel society to find a place where everyone can meet, and hopefully have some classes again.

Lydia Pottoff: That would be wonderful. That was where I met Elizabeth Mowry. She was a hero of mine. I have all of her books. She has been an inspiration to me, both in terms of her approach to art, and how she wrote about it and her beautiful paintings. When I did a workshop with her at your studio, it was a life-changing experience for me. I probably did five or six workshops at your place. I'm really excited that you guys might be able to do that again.